I always tell my liberal acquaintences that Bush very likely had a majority of the popular vote if you take vote fraud out of the equation. Bush would also have won a majority of the popular vote had it not been for the scandalous early call on Florida, which was made during prime voting hours in the west. The bad call left people thinking for several hours that Gore had already won. This suppressed the Republican vote, cost Bush the popular vote win, and probably cost Slade Gorton his Senate seat, which ultimately cost the Republicans control of the Senate.
I try not to be pedantic about it, but whenever a dem starts ragging about Bush-Gore, it's an effective way to switch the discussion to vote fraud and rock 'em back a bit.